oscillo

Forms

ōscillō (present infinitive ōscillāre, perfect active ōscillāvī, supine ōscillātum); first conjugation^[1] The OLD notes a possible spelling oscellō.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin ōscillum (“swing”) + -ō.^[2][3][4] The OLD calls the origin of this noun unknown, unless it developed from its homonym meaning “little face”, a diminutive of ōs “mouth, face”, used of masks hung up to swing in the breeze.^[2] Wiktionary reports the traditional analysis as ob- with an element *cillō (“to move”), doubted by others, and notes its likeness to vacillō “sway”.^[1]

Among the ancient grammarians, Santra, quoted by Festus, said the swing was so called because people swing on it, leaning and falling headlong onto the face (⟨in os⟩);^[5][3] Festus also reports a derivation from the masks with which those who played this game used to hide their faces.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The grammarian Santra, quoted by Festus, used it for swinging when he explained the noun for “swing”;^[5][4][3] Conte also lists a fragment of the grammarian Cornificius Longus.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word belonged to the ritual swinging of the Latin festival:^[3] Festus reports that people swung because King Latinus had vanished in battle and become Jupiter Latiaris, so that he was sought in the sky as well as on earth; the Bobbio scholia on Cicero say that men were swung on hanging machines at the festival because the bodies of Latinus and Aeneas had not been found, so their souls were sought in the air.^[3]

A passive or deponent ōscillor “be swung” appears in the Vatican mythographers,^[4][5] and the present participle ōscillāns was used as a noun, “a swinger”.^[5] English oscillate (1726) comes from the past participle of this verb or from oscillation.^[7]

Timeline

• second half of the 2nd century AD – Festus quotes Santra's explanation of the word.^[3][4][8]
• 1726 – English oscillate is formed from its past participle or from oscillation.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To swing, ride in a swing.^[2][5][4]
2. (passive or deponent ōscillor) To be swung.^[4][5]

Related words

• English oscillate

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de